A Visit to Italy’s Gorgeous Lake Garda Brings Its Controversial History Into View

In many ways, Garda—its crisp blue water reflecting the nearby Alps—feels like a curiously liminal space. Its northern shores were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until after World War I; even today, German-language street-signs dot the villages along its northern coast. Traces of Venetian architecture abound, remnants of the Venetian Empire’s conquering of several lakeside strongholds. On the southern shore, the beautiful town of Sermione boasts the extant grounds of a Roman villa named after the poet Catullus. English writers, too, made their home here: One of the pastel townhouses in the Gargano region is dedicated to D.H. Lawrence, a one-time resident; James Joyce and Lord Alfred Tennyson also spent time here. 

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Despite this impressive roll call and the area’s scenic beauty, Garda’s 20th-century history makes it a thorny tourist spot. In the 1920s, Garda was the home of the Italian poet and provocateur Gabriele D’Annunzio, a World War I war hero known for airdropping poetry and propaganda pamphlets over Vienna. Shortly after the end of World War I, D’Annunzio had led an ill-fated attempt to rule Fiume (now Rijeka in Croatia) for Italy, over Italy’s objections. For 15 months, the charismatic poet, christened “The Bard,” presided over an anarchic dictatorship in Fiume, marked by nightly poetry readings, widespread morphine addiction and an infamous spike in STDs. When Italy put a stop to D’Annunzio’s grand project, the government funded his pet project, Vittoriale degli Italiani, an estate on Garda’s shores, to keep him out of politics. But the singular type of celebrity he cultivated—one that espoused nationalist rhetoric about Italy’s vanished greatness—made him a beloved “duce” and helped fuel Italian fascism. 

 In 1943, at the height of World War II, another “duce,” Benito Mussolini, lived in the nearby town of Salò, the de facto capital of his short-lived Italian Social Republic. The twin legacies of the men, one a fame-seeking poet, the other a brutal dictator, have come to haunt Garda’s history. 

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A casual visitor to the lake’s shores might miss the contentious back story. It’s possible to stay in one of the charming pensiones, happily boating from one well-preserved waterside town to another. Indeed, I spent plenty of my stay swimming between ducks and swans on the Lido, eating fresh-picked cherries from the market, and evening out my sunburn. 

But traces of Garda’s past still sprang up to greet me. At the Hotel du Lac, wartime memorabilia lined the art nouveau bar’s walls, while stairwells housed 1930s travel posters that made Venice’s gondolas look like warships. On a walk to the nearby village of San Giacomo to see frescoes, I passed by Villa Feltrinelli, now a grand hotel but infamous as the spot where Mussolini holed up while in the area. Outside the ornate Grand Hotel Fasano, once a Habsburg hunting lodge, I stopped for a cocktail. The waitress who served me a grapefruit Bellini on the terrace led me to see the hotel’s wall-mounted historical guest book, with D’Annunzio’s signature in bold longhand. Everywhere I strolled, the area’s legacy imbued the idyll with melancholy.

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In the Salò museum, founded in 2015, there were several exhibits, but I found the one focused on the history of fascism in Italy to be the most explicit attempt to grapple with Garda’s history. Touch-screens presented the narrative through multiple eyewitnesses (including some sympathetic to Il Duce’s Salò regime), while wartime pro-fascist posters celebrate Italian “honor” and demonize the American forces. One depicts the crucified Christ at the mercy of cruel caricatures of African-American soldiers. Another sings the praises of Il Duce himself. The sobering exhibit put the sunset spritzes of the Salò waterfront into relief. 

Even more complicated was D’Annunzio’s Vittoriale estate, now a museum. Within the Gothic halls of the “priory”—the main house—we wandered through dozens of phantasmagoric chambers, including a “relic” room devoted to pagan, Christian and Buddhist icons, and a “leper’s room,” where D’Annunzio’s wake was held. Stained-glass mosaics and makeshift altars depict him as saint, king and god. There were separate waiting rooms for both welcome and unwelcome guests; Mussolini, the guide made sure to emphasize, fell into the latter group. 

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On the grounds sits the full-size bow of a military cruiser (a Mussolini gift). Turn one corner and you find a 1,500-seat Greek-style amphitheater; turn another and you find a boathouse dedicated to a military vessel used by D’Annunzio during a late-night raid in 1918 in the Fiume campaign. The view is at once beautiful and infuriating: like the poet himself.

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Afterward, I headed across town with friends to the restaurant at the Torre San Marco observatory on the water’s edge; this, too, had belonged to D’Annunzio, who would regularly spy on incoming guests from its peak. 

San Marco has evolved into a trendy waterside nightclub, and late into dinner, one of our party tried to give a toast but was drowned out by the bass beat of Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies.” We tried to listen, then gave up, and went down to join the dancing.

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THE LOWDOWN / A Brief Guide to Visiting Lake Garda

Getting There: The nearest major airports to the Garda region can be found in Milan and Venice. Verona and Brescia’s airports (the latter is named after D’Annunzio) are closer but less likely to have international direct flights from the U.S. Regular trains connect all major Italian cities (and airports) with Desenzano del Garda and Peschiera del Garda, both on the south side of the lake, from which it’s possible to take local buses or ferries from town to town around the shoreline. In high season, renting a car is often preferable and far speedier, although the one-way streets and narrow roads can make parking a challenge.

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Staying There: In Gargnano, Hotel du Lac and Hotel Gardenia al Lago (from $175 a night) are standouts; the former has more appealing historically-inspired interiors, while Gardenia has lovely grounds. For a more decadent experience, head to the Grand Hotel Fasano (from $195), site of a former Habsburg hunting lodge. Or, if you’re a history buff (with deep pockets), visit the palatial Grand Hotel a Villa Feltrinelli (from $1875) where Mussolini hid out during the final days of the Salò Republic, the last incarnation of the Italian fascist state.

Exploring There: Book a day trip to Isola on Lake Garda, where a guided tour takes you through the Venetian neo-Gothic-style villa built in the 19th century with a centuries-old park and English and Italian hanging gardens. Isola has a rich trove of history that includes pirates and poets (Dante Alighieri), monks (San Francesco d’Assisi) and militia. 

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